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2019: The Dawn of 5G

South Korea ended 2018 on a big bang – it became the first
country in Asia Pacific to launch commercial 5G services for
enterprises. In fact, not one but three of the major telecom
operators announced the new service earlier than expected.

The launch gave businesses in Korea a head-start for 2019. The 5G
race is intensifying, and businesses are already gearing up to
take advantage of the next-generation network to improve
operations and customer experience as well as explore new
business models.

What exactly is 5G?

5G encompasses 4G Evo, a 5G New Radio (NR) and a new 5G Core
(5GCN), supported by a transport and core architectural evolution
to deliver great network benefits. For the first time, two
generations of technologies are going to be closely integrated
together. What does this mean for us? More bandwidth, more
connected devices and lower latency.

5G will deliver network performance far beyond anything it
precedes, offering the possibility of higher speed and capacity,
thus empowering the connectivity of a large number of devices to
cell sites. Expectations around 5G download speeds vary,
differing between more conservative estimates of anything between
10 to 1000 times faster than 4G, and even potentially exceeding
10Gbps. The technology’s capability to deliver a higher bandwidth
and support more devices will collectively drive new
possibilities in hyperconnected technologies such as IoT.

It will also drastically improve latency – the time between
performing an action and getting a response. Once fully
implemented, latency is anticipated to be as quick as just a few
milliseconds, which translates into a world of virtually zero
lag. In addition, the 5G infrastructure is estimated to be able
to manage more than 10 times the number of connections than 4G.
This means difficulty in accessing the network when in a busy
area will become the exception rather than the norm.

Unlike previous networks such as 4G and LTE, 5G is not based on a
single type of technology. Instead, the fifth generation will
build on the existing 4G framework that’s already in place. Over
time, the existing framework will be extended with 5G
infrastructure.

These characteristics set 5G apart from the connectivity we have
experienced before – and in fact, will enable the provisioning of
next-generation digital services.

What’s the potential for a 5G connected world?

While 4G puts the innovation directly in the hands of consumers
through devices such as smart phones, 5G will be more discrete.
There are already 8.4 billion things, of which 74 million are
managed by Vodafone, but the majority of these sit behind the
scenes in homes, hospitals, in vehicles and office blocks. Of
course, we’re all aware of the internet-enabled thermostat
sitting on the wall, but unlike the ever present 4G devices, IoT
devices using 5G will impact most people indirectly through the
services and experiences they consume.

The improved network performance that 5G delivers becomes the
platform for new use cases. In the automotive industry, 5G opens
up the possibility for autonomous cars or connected cars
utilising intelligent speed adaption when collecting data from
the smart road maps. Directions, speed, and even the next song on
your playlist could all be shown on the window screen using
Augmented Reality, enabled by 5G’s ultra-low latency.

In fact, 5G is likely to improve all types of road travel. In
addition to supporting fully-autonomous cars, 5G will also allow
passengers to get online during their travel time. This is
something Vodafone already started to bring about, working
alongside Lamborghini to create a
state of-the-art infotainment system using our IoT
connectivity.

A next-generation network with higher speeds and latency will
also replace Wi-Fi, and we are already seeing some trials taking
place. Luxury automaker
Audi is on track to transition to a private 5G network over
the next few years for higher data speed and greater reliability,
and other industry players such as BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen
are also planning to follow suit.

But when will 5G arrive?

The deployment across different geographic markets is reliant on
5G radio spectrum auctions in each country. Hence, 5G will land
at different times across the globe.

In Europe, the 5G race is off to a great start. We are working
closely with the government in Italy to use test spectrum and
have created a 5G network across Milan that enables entrepreneurs
to develop use cases even before the technology is commercially
available. In Germany, we have opened a 5G lab and have a test
track at Aldenhoven where we work with automobile companies to
develop new transport innovations utilizing 5G. Last year, we
also conducted UK’s
first live holographic call, a huge step for us as we prepare
to roll out 5G telecom services to 1000 sites across Britain by
2020.

Closer to home, countries in Asia Pacific like Singapore and
Australia are inching closer to the finish line, too. Last year,
Singapore saw the
first outdoor pilot of 5G New Radio in 3.5GHz frequency band.
In 2019, 5G launches and trials will be a key focus
for several local telecom operators.

Device manufacturers are also indicating that the first 5G device
will be available in 2019. With all of this acknowledged,
Vodafone’s view is that the industry will see growing device
penetration from 2020.

The right now

While 5G will genuinely enable a huge leap forward in what
connectivity can do, it is also important not to overhype its
promise.

Ultimately, the complexity of operations will increase.
Connecting everything and harnessing real-time data and analytics
will become commonplace but it will take strategic investments,
time and effort to jump on the 5G bandwagon without falling off
midway.

It is now time for organisations to begin investigating how 5G
could improve existing operational model and get ‘5G Ready’.
Understanding and planning for the challenges and opportunities
5G will bring over the next couple of years will put
organizations in good stead once the technology arrives in your
market.

5G is the latest step in the evolving journey of mobile
networking and already the signs are showing that it will be the
most profound transformation that we’ve experienced in any prior
generation of mobile technology. It is time organizations put
some serious thought into the next iteration of their evolution.

Eric Wong, Head of Enterprise Solutions, Asia Pacific
at Vodafone Business